Thankful Thursday #226!

"Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.  I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for He speaks peace to His faithful people.  But let them not return to their foolish ways.  Surely He is ready to save those who honor Him, and His saving presence will remain in our land."  ~Psalm 85:7-9

Today, I am thanking God for:

1.  Rach passing her CPC (Certified Professional Coder) exam yesterday morning!!  She took amazing notes and studied hard for this one, and I was super happy to hear that she passed it on the first try!  

2.  Kristin's friendship and life example, and that her parents know she is in Heaven with Jesus now (she died early this morning).  Praying for her family and close circle as they process all of this.

3.  This meme from Chettles that made me laugh out loud. lol  (Also, I'm genuinely thankful for the way my identity and life dreams have grown and changed over time.)

4.  This truth.

5.  Squirrels - they're adorable and mischievous and funny. lol  But being this close to so many of them would've freaked me out!  (Dad took this pic on his park walk this morning.)

6.  Alicia!!  A California girl turned proud Texan, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, and a fellow PhD student at CCU.  She celebrated her 29th birthday yesterday, so she'll have her PhD by the time she's 33!  I'm just beginning to get to know her, but I really love her vibrant energy and joy!  She has a list of 186 questions on her phone (she continually adds to it as she finds new ones), but during several of our dinners at Residency, each person would choose a number then we'd all go around answering that question - some deep, some funny, some incredibly random.  She had good book recommendations and solid Biblical wisdom during some of our group conversations, and my breakfast coffee convo with her on day one was also really encouraging - she asked me about my adoption hopes and dating history, and we had a good talk about Christian singleness and holding onto hope for marriage while moving forward with other dreams.  We lamented about how much the process of becoming an LPC varies from state to state, then she said, "What's cool is that with this degree we're getting, we'll be in a better position to lead and speak up and create change!"  And that was such an awesome reframe - to look at frustrating problems from the perspective of: How can I be a part of the solution?  Anyway, big fan of her already, and I hope she's having an awesome birth-week!

7.  Afternoon walks... sadly, I've been feeling a bit less safe and more aware of potential danger lately - hoping that subsides because I love being able to take a work-break and go for a walk around Main Street!  My last summer workday 5k included a cool-off stop midway for a small gelato at Apple Tree Chocolate! lol #yum  (My first time using ApplePay - glad to know how it works now.)

8.  Childhood videos... Rach had our old Beta and VHS videos converted to a digital format and played a few for us earlier this week... this was from our 1990 San Antonio trip with the Wallace fam!

9.  The Mini Miss K's creativity and love of games - after fam dinner on Tuesday, she made a "guess the celebrity" game for us on her phone, then screen-mirrored it to the TV! lol

10.  This reminder that life is big and wide and long, and God will open the right doors and close the wrong ones as we move forward!

Bonus:  Things that make me laugh while driving... like this pickup carrying Tiltawhirl cups on my drive to Colorado! lol

Happy Thursday, and Happy Juneteenth - (a Federal holiday, but not a State one, so we still had to work today - lame).  I love you and believe in you, and Jesus does too!!

❤❤❤